EA voted “Worst Company in America” of 2012

Ouch. Electronic Arts, maker of The Sims, Mass Effect, Madden NFL, among other games, won the title of “Worst Company in America” in a recent online bout that also included Google, Apple, Facebook and PayPal.

In its seventh annual March Madness-style tournament, The Consumerist pitted 32 companies against each other, which were selected by the blog’s readers. (The Consumerist is part of the same organization that publishes Consumer Reports.)

Some could only be expected: The Occupy movement’s target, the banking industry, made the cut, with Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank and Chase all in the lineup. The telecommunications companies, such as AT&T and Comcast, several airlines and retailers were also among the contenders.

Silicon Valley was also well represented: Google and Facebook were nominated because of their respective privacy flaps, while PayPal was dinged for poor customer service, Netflix was cited for last year’s streaming debacle and Apple was picked not so much for its manufacturing practices but for the premium it forces customers to pay. PayPal and Facebook made it pretty far to the elite eight while Apple triumphed over Google to advance to the sweet sixteen.

Interestingly enough, EA was making its first appearance in the competition. But clearly gamers are steamed at the Redwood City company for milking them for all they’re worth. Voters ultimately crowned EA the champion over Bank of America.

In a response, EA said in a statement to Kotaku, a gaming news site, ”We’re sure that British Petroleum, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton are all relieved they weren’t nominated this year. We’re going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide.”